bow

Definition

A weapon made of a curved piece of wood or other flexible material whose ends are connected by a string, used for shooting arrows.

Etymology

From Middle English bowe, from Old English boga, Proto-West Germanic *bogō, from Proto-Germanic *bugô. Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Booge (“arch, bow, curve”), West Frisian bôge (“arc, arch, bow”), Dutch boog (“arc, arch, bow”), German Bogen (“arc, arch, bow, curve”), Luxembourgish Bou (“arc, arch, bow, curve”), Vilamovian böga (“arc, arch, bend, bow, curve”), Yiddish בויגן (boygn, “arc, arch, bow, curve”), Danish bue (“arc, arch, bow, curve”), Faroese, Icelandic bogi (“arch, bow, vault”), Jamtish buga (“bow”), Norwegian Bokmål bue (“arc, arch, bow”), Norwegian Nynorsk boge (“arc, arch, bow”), Swedish båge (“bow”), Crimean Gothic boga (“bow”).

Example Sentences

• "Holonym: bow and arrow"
• "Bows come in a variety of different shapes, sizes and cultures, and what is true of one, is not necessarily true of another, so we're gonna be stereotyping here, but, in general, a bow is a way of launching a pointy stick at somebody that you don't like."
• "I do set my bow in the cloud."

Related Words